Around this time of year everyone makes resolutions that they swear they’ll keep: lose weight, join the gym, give up smoking etc. I’m not usually one for New Year’s resolutions but perhaps I should pledge to make mine this: write on here more.
My first term back at uni was hectic to say the least, and combined with my shifts for Goal.com, this place has been left feeling pretty neglected. I’ve currently got a month off and to be perfectly honest I’ve used a fair amount of it to reacquaint myself with a long lost friend – sleep.
My work for Goal continues, the usual Wednesday night news shift has been supplemented with live commentaries of Birmingham v Chelsea (0-0), Aston Villa v Liverpool (0-1) and the shock of the FA Cup Third Round, Manchester United’s 1-0 defeat to old rivals Leeds United. Midweek it’s the Carling Cup Semi Finals and I’ll be providing live updates of Blackburn Rovers against Aston Villa.
I’ve also been catching up on a bit of reading over the holidays. The other week I finished All The President’s Men. A little confusing at first, the book quickly grabbed me and by the end I was left feeling inspired. Speaking of inspired, I was given Harold Evans’ book My Paper Chase for Christmas and have hardly put it down since. Evans’ writing is a joy as he takes you through his illustrious career – from the Ashton-under-Lyne Reporter to the editor’s chair at The Sunday Times. He tells it with a good dose of humour, but also empathy and emotion, such as when discussing his campaign for the victims of the Thalidomide scandal.
In addition, Drew Westen’s The Political Brain and Robert Fisk’s The Great War for Civilisation have bookmarks lodged in them somewhere and are demanding to be finished off.
Uni work is siting on my desk – a presentation on my month at Sky News for the first year students at the Centre for Journalism, a 2,500 word feature and, of course, shorthand practice. That trio will take up a fair chunk of my time before it’s time to make my way back down to Gillingham once again for another term down in Kent.
